Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mitel!shawm.misemi!morrow@uunet.uu.net ( config) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Church, the NRA, and gun control Message-ID: Date: 14 Apr 91 01:08:49 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: MITEL Corporation, Kanata, Ontario, Canada. Lines: 68 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article dvnspc1!tom@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) writes: > > "Methodist pastor lists NRA with Mafia as public enemy." > by Paul H. Blackman, Ph. D. > [From _American Rifleman_, April 1991, p. 50] > > > >Will the official position of the United Methodist Church change from >opposing gun ownership to vilifying the NRA and its members? Will it >start labeling the NRA the "evil empire" as HCI's Sarah and Jim Brady have >done? Church members may wish to express their views to the General Board >of Church and Society, United Methodist Church, 100 Maryland Ave., N.E., >Washington, D.C. 20002. I personally feel this topic is better placed in soc.politics. As it has been raised on soc.religion.christian, I would like to offer a view from a person raised as a christian in a society not completely immersed in the tradition of bearing arms. Jesus said "If any one strikes you on the cheek, present them with the other" (the paraphrase is mine). I was brought up to apply this (and the Golden Rule) to mean "No Force - No violence". While visiting my relatives in the southern US, I heard the interpretation "If you are hit - hit back"; the proof of this is the Old Testament theorem "An eye for an eye...". My US history knowledge tells me that the "right to bear arms" is a secular-political proviso of the constitution created at the time when each state had it's own "private" militia (which, in it's turn could be mobilized into an army by the federal government). Given that the framers of the consitution were (in part) intellectuals from a time where faith in God was not as fundamental as belief in "enlightenment" and the natural course of events, can Christians honestly support this provision? My personal belief is that we cannot support the proliferation and easy access to firearms as they are more often as not the tool by which a person does Satan's will. However, I am uneasy about the right to "bear arms" given that we know that at least on of Christ's disciples had a sword ("drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants"). Comments? Please, let's keep this discussion within the confines of Christian faith adn theology. Unrelated political discussion belongs elsewhere. BOB [No, I'm not interested in a discussion of gun control. The posting was primarily focused on the actions of a church. One could accept gun control but still feel that the quoted pastor was acting inappropriately. I believe it's appropriate for this group to consider how Christians relate their faith to politics, and how churches should participate in the political policy. However this is not the best group for discussions primarily focused on issues of public policy. I'd also like people to beware of newspaper coverage of controversial issues. The papers did great harm to some of the New Jersey churches by exaggerating stands on a recent tax issue. They quoted leaders as accusing opponents of the tax as racist, whereas in fact the actual statements had been models of diplomacy, and were primarily directed at encouraging rational discussion of both sides. --clh]